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The Provisions on Crime Victims in the Swedish Social Services Act : A Study of their Origins and Purpose

Ljungwald, Carina LU (2010) SOAM11 20092
School of Social Work
Abstract
Abstract
Author: Carina Ljungwald
Title: The Social Services’ Provisions on Crime Victims – a study of their origins and purposes
Supervisor: Kerstin Svensson
In 2001, crime victims were introduced as a target group in the Swedish Social Services Act.
Alongside special provisions concerning children, youths, elderly persons, persons with
functional impairments, substance abusers and family caregivers, the provisions on support to
victims of crime can be found in a separate section (5:11 SoL) in the 5th Chapter of the Act. The
purpose of the essay was to enhance the understanding of the origin of the reform. The analysis
was based on a sociological approach to law, which assumes that law is contextual and can be
related to... (More)
Abstract
Author: Carina Ljungwald
Title: The Social Services’ Provisions on Crime Victims – a study of their origins and purposes
Supervisor: Kerstin Svensson
In 2001, crime victims were introduced as a target group in the Swedish Social Services Act.
Alongside special provisions concerning children, youths, elderly persons, persons with
functional impairments, substance abusers and family caregivers, the provisions on support to
victims of crime can be found in a separate section (5:11 SoL) in the 5th Chapter of the Act. The
purpose of the essay was to enhance the understanding of the origin of the reform. The analysis
was based on a sociological approach to law, which assumes that law is contextual and can be
related to prevailing ideologies and relations of power. The findings are based on an analysis of
the preparatory work to the legal changes in 2001, such as the government bill, referral body
statements, motions and the parliamentary debate. In the study the questions were examined:
When, where and by whom was the idea of provisions on crime victims in the Social Services Act
raised in the preparatory material? Which arguments were presented for and against the
provisions in the preparatory material? What was the purpose of the provisions, as expressed in
the preparatory material? The result of the study shows that the crime victim committee
proposed the idea of provisions on support to crime victims in the Social Services Act in the
governmental report “Crime Victims: What have been done? What should be done?” in 1998.
The explicit purpose of the provisions, as expressed in the governmental bill “Support to Crime
Victims”, was to clarify the social services responsibility to support crime victims and that active
work should be done in this respect. The provisions were mainly argued for and justified by
referring to shortcomings in the social services work with crime victims. The main argument
against the provisions in the legislative process was that that detailed or target-group oriented
provisions can affect the design or fundamental values of the Social Services Act. The result in
this study is both consistent and inconsistent with research on crime victim policy in countries.
Similar to the United Kingdom, it is, for instance, difficult to find elements of the United States’
crime victim policy orientation, such as offender punishment and sharper penalties. The strategy
to improve the situation for crime victims is rather focused on service, support and attitude
changes. The preparatory material also show that the provisions on crime victims in the Social
Services Act are linked to efforts to confront men’s violence against women. This is a sharp
contrast to inner policy circles centered on crime victims in the United Kingdom, where woman’s
organizations were almost absent from the inner policy circles centered on crime victims. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ljungwald, Carina LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOAM11 20092
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
crime victims, Social Services Act, target group, individualization, sociology of law
language
English
id
1585294
date added to LUP
2010-04-14 12:22:24
date last changed
2010-04-14 12:22:24
@misc{1585294,
  abstract     = {{Abstract
Author: Carina Ljungwald
Title: The Social Services’ Provisions on Crime Victims – a study of their origins and purposes
Supervisor: Kerstin Svensson
In 2001, crime victims were introduced as a target group in the Swedish Social Services Act.
Alongside special provisions concerning children, youths, elderly persons, persons with
functional impairments, substance abusers and family caregivers, the provisions on support to
victims of crime can be found in a separate section (5:11 SoL) in the 5th Chapter of the Act. The
purpose of the essay was to enhance the understanding of the origin of the reform. The analysis
was based on a sociological approach to law, which assumes that law is contextual and can be
related to prevailing ideologies and relations of power. The findings are based on an analysis of
the preparatory work to the legal changes in 2001, such as the government bill, referral body
statements, motions and the parliamentary debate. In the study the questions were examined:
When, where and by whom was the idea of provisions on crime victims in the Social Services Act
raised in the preparatory material? Which arguments were presented for and against the
provisions in the preparatory material? What was the purpose of the provisions, as expressed in
the preparatory material? The result of the study shows that the crime victim committee
proposed the idea of provisions on support to crime victims in the Social Services Act in the
governmental report “Crime Victims: What have been done? What should be done?” in 1998.
The explicit purpose of the provisions, as expressed in the governmental bill “Support to Crime
Victims”, was to clarify the social services responsibility to support crime victims and that active
work should be done in this respect. The provisions were mainly argued for and justified by
referring to shortcomings in the social services work with crime victims. The main argument
against the provisions in the legislative process was that that detailed or target-group oriented
provisions can affect the design or fundamental values of the Social Services Act. The result in
this study is both consistent and inconsistent with research on crime victim policy in countries.
Similar to the United Kingdom, it is, for instance, difficult to find elements of the United States’
crime victim policy orientation, such as offender punishment and sharper penalties. The strategy
to improve the situation for crime victims is rather focused on service, support and attitude
changes. The preparatory material also show that the provisions on crime victims in the Social
Services Act are linked to efforts to confront men’s violence against women. This is a sharp
contrast to inner policy circles centered on crime victims in the United Kingdom, where woman’s
organizations were almost absent from the inner policy circles centered on crime victims.}},
  author       = {{Ljungwald, Carina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Provisions on Crime Victims in the Swedish Social Services Act : A Study of their Origins and Purpose}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}